The rates of childhood asthma in the United
States rose 160 percent from 1980 to 1994 and have remained high ever since, making this
chronic lung illness the country's third most common pediatric disease. QUEST meets Bay
Area researchers who are investigating possible environmental and social culprits. Their
understanding of asthma's causes could one day lead to measures to prevent kids from
developing the disease.

Dry airways may not only play a central role in the development of the inherited lung
disease cystic fibrosis, but also in acquired chronic lung diseases like asthma and
smoker's lung, the cigarette smoke-induced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
This conclusion was reached by scientists from Heidelberg University Hospital and the
University of North Carolina. In animal studies, they found that insufficient hydration of
the airways leads to pathologies typical of COPD in humans.

Merck & Companys top-selling drug, the asthma medication Singulair, and similar
medicines should come with a caution about reports of psychiatric problems in some
patients, the Food and Drug Administration said.

Traffic exhaust can cause asthma,
allergies and impaired respiratory function in children

Children exposed to high levels of air pollution during their first year of life run a
greater risk of developing asthma, pollen allergies, and impaired respiratory function.
However, genetic factors are also at play. These are the results of a new study conducted
under the BAMSE project. The BAMSE project has monitored 4,000 children in Stockholm
county from birth in order to assess whether exposure to traffic pollution during their
first year of life affects the risk of developing asthma and allergies. Levels of traffic
exhaust were measured at the site of the home. The results show that the children who were
exposed to high concentrations of pollutants ran a 60 per cent higher risk of suffering of
persistent asthma symptoms. Respiratory function was also adversely affected, and the
children were much more likely to be allergic to airborne allergens, particularly pollen.

Inhaling chlorine triggers a nerve receptor that protects healthy people by inducing
sneezing, coughing, and irritation, but can cause major problems for people with asthma
and other respiratory problems, Yale School of Medicine researchers report today in the
Journal of Clinical Investigation.

For the first time, a study has linked asthma with post-traumatic stress disorder among
adults in the community. The study of male twins who were veterans of the Vietnam era
suggests that the association between asthma and PTSD is not primarily explained by common
genetic influences.

Many young children who get a severe skin rash develop asthma months or years later.
Doctors call the progression from eczema, or atopic dermatitis, to breathing problems the
atopic march. Now scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have
uncovered what might be the key to atopic march. They've shown that a substance secreted
by damaged skin circulates through the body and triggers asthmatic symptoms in
allergen-exposed laboratory mice. The findings, published May 19, 2009, in Public Library
of Science Biology, suggest that early treatment of skin rash and inhibition of the
trigger substance might block asthma development in young patients with eczema. Fifty
percent to 70 percent of children with severe atopic dermatitis go on to develop asthma,
studies show. By comparison, the rate of asthma incidence among the general population is
only about 9 percent in children and 7 percent in adults. Seventeen percent of U.S.
children suffer from atopic dermatitis, although not all cases are considered severe.
"Over the years, the clinical community has struggled to explain atopic march,"
says study author Raphael Kopan, Ph.D., professor of developmental biology and of
dermatology. "So when we found that the skin of mice with an eczema-like condition
produced a substance previously implicated in asthma, we decided to investigate further.
We found that the mice also suffered from asthma-like responses to inhaled allergens,
implicating the substance, called TSLP, as the link between eczema and asthma."
Doctors and scientists had come up with theories to explain why a skin rash is sometimes
associated with asthma. Do some people have an immune system disorder that causes an
overreaction to allergens that contact the skin and lung airways? Or is it the opposite
 do they have defective skin and airways that trigger an excessive immune response?
Kopan's findings suggest the problem starts with damaged or defective skin. The
researchers found that cells in damaged skin can secrete TSLP (thymic stromal
lymphopoietin), a compound capable of eliciting a powerful immune response. And because
the skin is so effective in secreting TSLP into the blood system, the substance travels
throughout the body. When it reaches the lungs, it triggers the hypersensitivity
characteristic of asthma. Led by doctoral student Shadmehr (Shawn) Demehri, the
researchers studied mice that had been engineered with a genetic defect in patches of
their skin. In the affected areas, the typically ordered layers of skin cells were
disrupted, creating a condition similar to eczema. These patches were thickened and
inflamed. The defective skin secreted TSLP as part of an alarm system alerting the body
that its protective barrier function has failed  the substance activates an immune
response that fights invaders.Operating on the assumption that other barrier organs such
as the lung will understand this alarm, the researchers tested what happened when the mice
with skin defects inhaled an allergen. They found that their lungs reacted strongly 
their breathing became labored and their lung tissue took on the traits that mark asthma
in humans: mucous secretion, airway muscle contraction, invasion by white blood cells and
conversion of lung cells from one type to another. Additional experiments showed that mice
that had normal skin but were engineered to overproduce TSLP also developed the
asthma-like symptoms. "We are excited because we've narrowed down the problem of
atopic march to one molecule," Kopan says. "We've shown that skin can act as a
signaling organ and drive allergic inflammation in the lung by releasing TSLP. Now it will
be important to address how to prevent defective skin from producing TSLP. If that can be
done, the link between eczema and asthma could be broken."

Bronchial Thermoplasty with the
Alairģ System, an investigative procedure to treat asthma.

Bronchial Thermoplasty is a completely different approach to asthma treatment. The
out-patient investigative procedure uses thermal energy to reduce the airway smooth muscle
in the lung in hopes of reducing the airways ability to constrict. Less constriction in
the airways may result in reducing the severity and frequency of asthma symptoms.

Together with colleagues from the Department of Dermatology and Allergy and the Center for
Allergy and Environment (ZAUM) of the Technische Universitšt MŁnchen, scientists at the
Helmholtz Zentrum MŁnchen have pinpointed a major gene for allergic diseases. The gene
was localized using cutting edge technologies for examining the whole human genome at the
Helmholtz Zentrum MŁnchen. Schematic representation of the high affinity receptor for
IgE. Variants within the gene encoding the alpha chain are associated with increased
levels of IgE antibodies The newly discovered FCER1A gene encodes the alpha chain of high
affinity IgE receptor, which plays a major role in controlling allergic responses. The
team of scientists led by Dr. Stephan Weidinger from the Technische Universitšt MŁnchen
and Dr. Thomas Illig from the Helmholtz Zentrum MŁnchen found that certain variations of
the FCER1A gene decisively influence the production of immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies.
IgE antibodies are a particular type of antibody that is normally used to protect against
parasites. In Western lifestyle countries with less contact, however, elevated IgE levels
are associated with allergic disorders. In genetically susceptible individuals the immune
system becomes biased and produces IgE antibodies against harmless agents such as pollen,
dust mites or animal hair. These IgE antibodies then work in conjunction with certain
cells to get rid of the allergens, a process that gives rise to the symptoms of allergy
such as allergic rhinitis (hay fever), atopic dermatitis or asthma.

A new study from the September issue of the journal Chest shows that an athlete's ability
to sweat may do more than keep the body cool. It also may prevent the development of
exercise-induced asthma, a common respiratory condition among trained athletes.

There is a strong link between obesity and asthma and as the prevalence of both conditions
has been increasing steadily, epidemiologists have speculated that there is an underlying
condition that connects the two. But one long-suspected link, the systemic inflammation
associated with obesity, has been ruled out by a recent New Zealand study that found no
evidence of its involvement. "We were disappointed not to find a 'smoking gun' that
would explain the common association between obesity and asthma," said lead
researcher, D. Robin Taylor, M.D., of the University of Otago in New Zealand.
"However, this research points us to other possibilities that future research should
examine." The results were reported in the first issue for September of the American
Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, published by the American Thoracic
Society. "We hypothesized that the low-grade systemic inflammation present in obesity
would augment the inflammation of asthma (a synergistic effect)," wrote Dr. Taylor.
"Or alternatively, that the inflammation of obesity might affect the airways
independently (an additive effect), perhaps resulting in mixed airway inflammation."
In order to determine if there was indeed an interaction between systemic and local
inflammation, the researchers recruited 79 women20 who were obese with asthma, 19
who were of a normal weight with asthma, 20 who were obese but who did not have asthma and
20 controls. Asthmatics were told to stop using their anti-inflammatory inhaler treatment
to avoid confounding effects until "loss of control." After the withdrawal
period of four weeks, subjects underwent blood tests and tests for biomarkers of systemic
and airway inflammation, such as C-reactive protein (CRP) and cytokines in blood and
inflammatory cells and cytokines in sputum. Those that are known to be relevant in both
obesity and asthma were chosen. The researchers then analyzed for interactions between
systemic and airway-specific markers of inflammation. "What we found was that
although inflammatory cells and other biomarkers of inflammation were increased, there was
no significant interaction demonstrated between obesity and asthma," said Dr. Taylor.

Immune system kick-started in moist
nasal lining in sinusitis, asthma and colds

Scientists at Johns Hopkins have outlined a new path for potential therapies to combat
inflammation associated with sinusitis and asthma based on a new understanding of the
bodys earliest immune response in the nose and sinus cavities.

We found that, in this population of severe asthma patients, bronchial thermoplasty was
associated with a short-term increase in asthma-related symptoms around the time of
treatment but showed a potential for a longer-term improvement in rescue medication use,
lung function, asthma control and quality of life," states Ian D. Pavord, MD and
principle investigator of the study at the Glenfield General Hospital, University
Hospitals of Leicester. "These potential long term improvements make us hopeful that
bronchial thermoplasty could some day be a viable new treatment option for these severe
asthma patients.

Obese people with asthma have
nearly 5 times greater risk of hospitalization for asthma

Obese people who have asthma are nearly five times more likely to be hospitalized for the
condition than non-obese people with asthma, according to a Kaiser Permanente study
published in the September issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. This
is the first study to control for the risk factors  smoking, use of oral or inhaled
corticosteroid medications, gastroesophageal reflux disorder, and demographics  that
might explain the obesity-asthma association. Previous studies have shown that obese
people are more likely to suffer asthma than non-obese people, and that obese patients
often have more severe asthma than their non-obese counterparts. More than 20 million
Americans have been diagnosed with asthma. Nearly a third of adults with asthma are also
obese, according to researchers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines
obesity as having a Body Mass Index of 30 or higher
(http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/defining.htm) Researchers at Kaiser Permanente
Center for Health Research in Portland, Ore., and the Kaiser Permanente Institute for
Health Research in Denver surveyed 1,113 patients in Oregon, Washington, and Colorado, age
35 and older, who have persistent asthma. The researchers asked the patients about their
weight, height, smoking habits, other illnesses, treatment and their asthma-specific
quality of life, asthma control and asthma-related hospitalizations. "The big finding
here is that even after adjusting for risk factors, obese adults were nearly five times
more likely to be hospitalized for their asthma," said study lead author David M.
Mosen, Ph.D., MPH, of the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research. "Given that
nearly 30 percent of our country is obese, this study is yet another example of the
long-term dangers of obesity, along with heart disease, diabetes, stroke and
dementia." The study uncovered these findings - * Obese people with asthma had
significantly worse asthma control, lower asthma-related quality of life, and had 4.6
times higher risk for asthma-related hospitalizations than non-obese asthmatics * Obese
people with asthma were younger and less educated than non-obese people with asthma* Obese
people with asthma used more oral corticosteroids * Obese people with asthma had a higher
incidence of gastroesophageal reflux disorder.

Nasal allergies, family history, frequent respiratory infections and exposure to tobacco
smoke (pre- or postnatal) are risk factors - as is antibiotic use during the first year of
life, according to a recent study published in the March issue of the peer-reviewed
medical journal Pediatrics.

The results are stunning. The data shows dramatic increases in neurological diseases and
asthma in vaccinated children. Generation Rescue is cautious in its interpretations. They
have taken a humble position, saying that, "We are a small non-profit organization.
For less than $200,000, we were able to complete a study that the CDC, with an $8 billion
a year budget, has been unable or unwilling to do. We think the results of our survey lend
credibility to the urgent need to do a larger scale study to compare vaccinated and
unvaccinated children for neurodevelopmental outcomes."

A new study shows that the innate immune system of humans is capable of killing a fungus
linked to airway inflammation, chronic rhinosinusitis and bronchial asthma. Researchers at
Mayo Clinic and the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) have revealed that
eosinophils, a particular type of white blood cell, exert a strong immune response against
the environmental fungus Alternaria alternata. The groundbreaking findings, which shed
light on some of the early events involved in the recognition of A. alternata by the human
immune system, were published recently in the Journal of Immunology.* Eosinophils
typically combat parasitic invaders of the human body larger than bacteria or viruses,
such as flukes or parasitic worms (collectively known as helminths). Evidence from
different experimental approaches suggests that asthma and chronic sinusitis can arise
when the body perceives that it has encountered a disease-causing organism. Environmental
fungi such as Alternaria do not typically cause invasive infections like parasites but for
some reason, in certain people, the body responds as if it is being attacked and chronic
inflammation can result from the ensuing cascade of immune-related events. Principal
Investigator Hirohito Kita, M.D., from Mayo Clinic, remarked: "Our results strongly
demonstrate that eosinophils have the capacity to recognize and exert immunological
responses to certain fungi such as Alternaria. We have shown that CD11b receptors on the
surface of eosinophils recognize and adhere to beta-glucan, a major cell wall component of
the fungus. This in turn sets in motion the release of toxic granule proteins by the white
blood cells, leading to extensive damage and ultimate destruction of the fungus. To the
best of our knowledge, this is the first time that live eosinophils and not just the
intracellular components have been shown to target and destroy a fungus."

Earlier this month, published findings in Pediatric Allergy and Immunology from a
seven-year study of 460 Spanish children concluded that a definitive link exists between
symptom-free children and a diet rich in fruity vegetables and fish. Fruity
vegetables are those that grow from a blossom in the plant that comes from seed; such
veggies include tomatoes, zucchini, eggplants, green beans, cucumbers and butternut
squash, among others.

Asthma researchers have found that a gene variant known to raise the risk of childhood
asthma in European children plays a similar role in white American children, but not in
African American children. The most common chronic illness among children in the developed
world, asthma is a complex disease in which a variety of genes are thought to interact
with each other and with environmental influences to produce its effects. As in many other
genetic diseases, researchers expect that better knowledge of gene associations will pave
the way for new treatments and to customizing treatments to each patient's genetic
profile. Researchers from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia found that variants in
the ORMDL3 gene were associated with childhood-onset asthma among U.S. patients of
European ancestry. In 2007 a study team based in Europe had identified the ORMDL3 gene,
located on chromosome 17, as contributing to childhood asthma among British and German
children. The current study, from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, appeared as a brief online report Aug. 29
in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

Using household cleaning sprays and air fresheners as little as once a week can raise the
risk of developing asthma in adults, say researchers in Europe. Such products have been
associated with increased asthma rates in cleaning professionals, but a similar effect in
nonprofessional users has never before been shown.

A new study shows that monitoring levels of exhaled nitric oxide in adolescents with
asthma and adjusting treatment accordingly does not improve the course of their disease.
The study was conducted by the Inner City Asthma Consortium (ICAC), which is funded by the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National
Institutes of Health (NIH). The Sept. 20 issue of The Lancet reports the ICAC findings.
Approximately 550 adolescents in 10 cities across the United States participated in the
study. It was designed to examine whether in addition to treating asthma based on national
guidelines developed at NIH, measurements of exhaled nitric oxide would allow even better
control of the disease. This was the largest study to date testing exhaled nitric oxide as
a biomarker for asthma management. Asthma is a chronic disorder of the airways that
affects approximately 9 percent of children under age 17 in the United States. The causes
of asthma are still unknown, but allergens, air pollution and infections can provoke its
symptoms, which include wheezing, chest tightness, shortness of breath and coughing.
Asthma symptoms occur when the tissues of the lungs become inflamed and the muscles in the
airways contract, making breathing difficult. One measurable marker of asthma-related
inflammation is high levels of nitric oxide (NO) in the breath; it is known that the
higher the exhaled NO, the greater the inflammation of the lungs. Equipment is now
available to easily measure exhaled NO. Widely used asthma treatments, such as inhaled
corticosteroids, reduce both lung inflammation and exhaled NO. Exhaled NO would
potentially be a good biomarkera measurable feature of a disease that indicates its
severityof asthma inflammation.

"The message for doctors is that in cases of adult asthma in patients working with
point-of-sale terminals in close environments (kiosks, closed booths), it is recommended
to keep in mind sensitization to acrylates released from thermal paper, Sastre said.

Current evidence of an association between childhood swimming and new-onset asthma is
suggestive but not conclusive. Important data gaps need to be filled, particularly in
exposure assessment and characterization of asthma in the very young. Participants
recommended that additional evaluations using a multidisciplinary approach are needed to
determine whether a clear association exists.

Air pollution has been associated with adverse respiratory outcomes, but the influence of
air pollution on lung injury is unclear, in part because of a lack of appropriate
noninvasive biomarkers of lung inflammation. Liu et al. (p. 668) measured fractional
exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO), thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS),
8-isoprostane, and interleukin-6 in the breath condensate of 182 asthmatic children to
investigate acute effects of air pollution on these markers of airway oxidative stress and
inflammation. Interquartile-range increases in 3-day average ambient sulfur dioxide (5.4
ppb), nitrogen dioxide (6.8 ppb), and PM2.5 (particulate matter <2.5 Ķm in aerodynamic diameter; 5.4 Ķg/m3) were associated with increases in TBARS and decreases in pulmonary function, with stronger associations estimated for children not taking corticosteroids. Results were consistent with an increase in airway oxidative stress and a decrease in small airway function in response to air pollution among asthmatic children. The authors conclude that TBARS in breath condensate may be a useful tool to investigate air pollution-related oxidative stress.

A team of scientists at JILA, a joint institute of the National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado (CU) at Boulder, has shown that by
sampling a persons breath with laser light they can detect molecules in the breath
that may be markers for diseases like asthma or cancer.

David Van Sickle is looking for a few pioneering asthmatics. He wants to attach a GPS
device to their inhalers before they boldly go out into a spring world filled with
allergens.His goal is to map where and when environmental exposures trigger asthma
symptoms, prompting them to puff on their rescue inhalers, which deliver the
medicine that keeps them breathing.

A new study into the role of a particular immune cell in the lungs could lead to better
treatments for the 5 million people in the UK affected by asthma. Scientists from the
University of Southampton's School of Medicine will study the role of macrophages
(literally 'big-eaters' in Greek) in the lungs of people with asthma and examine how they
affect the airway narrowing that can worsen asthma symptoms.Macrophages are the
predominant type of white cells found in the lungs and their function is to clear any
particulate matter, bacteria or damaged cells that may be present in the airway.Asthma is
characterised by damage to the cells lining the airway and the act of removing these
particular damaged cells can cause the macrophages to switch to working in a negative
rather than a positive way. They start releasing chemicals that recruit and activate other
inflammatory cells to the lung, which can cause further damage to the airway. At the same
time, the macrophages also release growth factors that can re-model the airways leading to
narrowing and increased twitchiness. What is not understood is why macrophages from the
lungs of people with asthma release these inflammatory and growth factors, while
macrophages from those without asthma do not.

Results from a new national survey demonstrate that elevated allergen levels in the home
are associated with asthma symptoms in allergic individuals. The study suggests that
asthmatics that have allergies may alleviate symptoms by reducing allergen exposures
inside their homes. The work was carried out by researchers at the National Institute of
Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), the University of Iowa, Rho Inc., and the Constella
Group. The team's findings may help millions of Americans who suffer from asthma.
"Indoor allergen exposures are of great importance in relation to asthma because most
people spend a majority of their time indoors, especially at home," said Darryl
Zeldin, M.D., a Principal Investigator in the Laboratory of Respiratory Biology at NIEHS
and senior author on the paper.

Taking acid-blocking medications for heartburn associated with pregnancy increases the
baby's risk of developing asthma by more than 50%, according to findings presented here at
the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) Annual Meeting.

Improved home heating reduced asthma symptoms in children, according to a Otago University
study in New Zealand. The study examined 409 children in five communities between the ages
of six and 12 with asthma, both before and after the installation of more effective
heating at homes.

Children with allergic asthma may benefit from an oral therapy designed to increase
tolerance to allergens that trigger asthma and, in turn, decrease asthma symptoms and
medication use. In a meta-analysis, researchers from the University of Genoa in Italy
reviewed the results of nine studies (441 patients, ages 3 to 18 years) involving
sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) for allergic asthma in children. SLIT involves the oral
administration of allergen exacts, either through soluble tablets or drops. Researchers
found that SLIT reduced both symptom scores and rescue medication use in children with
allergic asthma compared with placebo. Furthermore, the majority of adverse effects
associated with SLIT were mild and self-resolving. Researchers conclude that SLIT is
clinically effective in asthma in children; however, additional research should be
conducted to determine the most effective dose and regimen of administration. Although
widely used in Europe, SLIT is not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for use
in the United States. This study is published in the March issue of the journal CHEST.

A relatively low dietary intake of vitamins A and C boosts the risk of asthma, suggests a
systematic analysis of the available evidence published ahead of print in the journal
Thorax. hese findings clash with a large review of the evidence, which was published last
year. Observational studies in recent years have pointed to a link between dietary
antioxidant vitamins  A,C, and E  and asthma. But the results of clinical
trials have proved inconclusive, claim the authors, from The University of Nottingham.

Infants who experience viral respiratory illnesses with wheezing are known to be at
increased risk for developing asthma later during childhood. It is not known, however,
whether every type of respiratory virus that produces wheezing presents similar risk.
Using new molecular techniques to identify different viruses, researchers now believe they
have pinpointed the biggest culprit: rhinovirus (RV). "We have found that rhinovirus,
the most common cause of colds, contributes a disproportionate amount towards future
asthma development in comparison to other viruses that also cause childhood
wheezing," said principle investigator, Robert F. Lemanske, Jr., M.D., head of the
Division of Pediatric Allergy, Immunology, and Rheumatology and Professor of Pediatrics
and Medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. The
results were reported in the first issue for October of the American Journal of
Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, published by the American Thoracic Society.
>From November 1998 to May 2000, researchers at the University of Wisconsin recruited
nearly 300 newborns at high risk for asthma (with one or both parents having had allergies
or asthma) to take part in their prospective cohort study on the etiology of asthma, the
Childhood Origins of Asthma (COAST) study. The children were followed from birth to six
years and evaluated for the presence of specific viruses during wheezing illnesses. At six
years, 28 percent of the kids had asthma and those who had wheezed with rhinovirus
were disproportionately among them. Children who wheezed with RV during the first year of
life were nearly three times as likely to have asthma at age six, whereas children who
wheezed with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), another common respiratory ailment that
has been linked to asthma risk in children, did not have an increased asthma risk. The
older the children were, the greater the effect. Children who had wheezed with RV in their
second year of life were more than six times as likely to have asthma. Wheezing with RV at
three increased asthma odds by more than 30-fold.

A Cardiff University study has found that removing indoor mold improves the symptoms of
people with asthma. Asthma UK figures show the prevalence of asthma in Wales is among the
highest in the world, with 260,000 people receiving treatment for their asthma with the
rate of hospital admissions for adults 12 percent more than anywhere else in the UK.

Young children who live on tree-lined streets have lower rates of asthma than children
living on streets with less vegetation, according to a new study conducted by researchers
from Columbia University.

A new study has found an unexpected number of viruses and viral subtypes in patients with
respiratory tract infections. The technique used in the study may help identify new
viruses associated with human diseases. The study is published in the Sept. 15 issue of
the Journal of Infectious Diseases, now available online.

New research provides evidence for a link between vitamin D insufficiency and asthma
severity. Serum levels of vitamin D in more than 600 Costa Rican children were inversely
linked to several indicators of allergy and asthma severity, including hospitalizations
for asthma, use of inhaled steroids and total IgE levels, according to a study that will
appear in the first issue for May of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care
Medicine. While previous in vitro studies have suggested that vitamin D may affect how
airway cells respond to treatment with inhaled steroids, this is the first in vivo study
of vitamin D and disease severity in children with asthma. Juan Celedůn, M.D., Dr. P.H.
and Augusto Litonjua, M.D., M.P.H. of Harvard Medical School and colleagues recruited 616
children with asthma living in the Central Valley of Costa Rica, a country known to have a
high prevalence of asthma. Each child was assessed for allergic markers, including both
allergen-specific and general sensitivity tests, and assessed for lung function and
circulating vitamin D levels. Children whose forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1)
exceeded 65 percent of the predicted value were also tested for airway reactivity. They
found that children with lower vitamin D levels were significantly more likely to have
been hospitalized for asthma in the previous year, tended to have airways with increased
hyperreactivity and were likely to have used more inhaled corticosteroids, all signifying
higher asthma severity. These children were also significantly more likely to have several
markers of allergy, including dust-mite sensitivity. "To our knowledge this is the
first study to demonstrate an inverse association between circulating levels of vitamin D
and markers of asthma severity and allergy," wrote Drs. Celedůn and Litonjua
"While it is difficult to establish causation in a cross-sectional study such as
this, the results were robust even after controlling for markers of baseline asthma
severity." "This study suggests that there may be added health benefits to
vitamin D supplementation" said Dr. Celedůn. Current recommendations for optimal
vitamin D levels geared toward preserving bone health, such as preventing rickets in
children and osteoporosis in adults.

A recent study by the National Center for Healthy Housing analyzed relationships between
health status and housing quality over time. They found that the increase in asthma
correlates with the trend toward central heating and air conditioning.

Neighborhoods with restaurants, entertainment, cultural facilities and ethnic diversity
have lower asthma rates in the city of Chicago than neighborhoods where residents are less
likely to move, and where there are more churches and not-for-profit facilities. Published
in the spring 2009 issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, the two-year
study led by Ruchi Gupta, MD, MPH, a researcher at Children's Memorial Hospital and
associate professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine,
showed that neighborhoods with more community vitality, specifically economic potential,
community amenities and social capital had lower asthma rates. The study focused on 287
Chicago neighborhoods, where nearly 50,000 children grades K-8 were screened for asthma.
Asthma is the leading chronic childhood illness, affecting more than 9 million children
nationwide. Chicago has twice the national average asthma mortality rate. "Previous
studies showed that neighborhoods right next to each other with similar racial makeup had
very different asthma rates; we wanted to see what else was going on in each neighborhood
to cause such a disparity," said Gupta. "So we looked at specific factors in
each neighborhood." Ethnically diverse communities with greater potential for
economic development that were civically engaged, meaning that there were high percentages
of registered voters had low asthma rates while stable communities, defined as communities
where residents were less likely to move, with more social interaction had higher asthma
rates. Although it is not entirely clear how these factors affect health outcomes,
previous research has shown that asthma and other chronic illnesses of childhood are
associated with poverty, which may explain why communities with low asthma rates had a
greater capacity for economic growth. Researchers suspect that the association between
neighborhood stability and asthma may indicate that homes in which residents are less
likely to move receive less frequent and thorough cleanings, leading to an accumulation of
indoor pollutants known to trigger asthma. Similarly, the association of higher
interaction potential and increased asthma may signify overcrowding, which also leads to
increased indoor pollutants.

Children in affluent countries more
likely to develop allergy-related asthma

Children with allergic sensitizations in economically developed countries are much more
likely to develop asthma than similarly sensitized children in poorer countries, according
to a team of international researchers.

Asthma sufferers who regularly take the beta2-agonist formoterol are more likely to suffer
non-fatal serious adverse events than those given placebos. A review carried out by
Cochrane Researchers showed a significantly increased risk for people who took the drug
once or twice daily for at least 12 weeks.

Eosinophils as markers for asthma
-The largest scale study so far on asthma genetics sheds light on disease mechanisms

In the study, the Icelandic company Decode Genetics together with Helmholtz Zentrum
MŁnchen and a number of other international research institutes performed a genome-wide
association scan of more than 50,000 test persons. The researchers found several sequence
variants associated with asthma. Two of the detected sequence variants are of
significance for a biochemical pathway in the interleukin-1 cluster, explained Dr.
Matthias Wjst, who was one of the initiators of the study at the Institute of Inhalation
Biology of Helmholtz Zentrum MŁnchen. This finding confirms the results of a research
group at Helmholtz Zentrum MŁnchen from 2004, which showed that the IL-1 gene cluster is
associated with asthma.

Farmers' use of certain pesticides can cause asthma, a breakthrough study presented in
Stockholm at an international conference on respiratory diseases showed. The study
presented Sunday was conducted by researcher Jane Hoppin of the US National Institute of
Environmental Health Sciences. It examined 20,183 male farmers in the US states of Iowa
and North Carolina.

A study by researchers at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt
implicates a new virus in an old, but growing problem: childhood asthma. Lead author
Kathryn Miller, M.D., and colleagues surveyed young children hospitalized for respiratory
illness and fever over two years and two geographic locations. The study, published online
this month by the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, documented a newly described
group of rhinoviruses (the cause of the "common cold") called HRV-C and found it
accounted for almost half of rhinovirus-related asthma.

Research suggests that a mothers exposure to pollution during pregnancy may
predispose her child to asthma, and there is preliminary evidence implicating
transplacental exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)generated mainly
by the burning of fossil fuels and abundant in high-traffic areas. Until recently,
progress in the study of prenatal exposures to PAHs and other pollutants has been hampered
by a paucity of biomarkers for predicting asthmatic risk. Researchers from the University
of Cincinnati and Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health now report that
methylation of ACSL3, a gene expressed in lung and thymus tissue, may provide a possible
biomarker linking prenatal exposure to PAHs to childhood asthma.

Asthma UK is funding research which aims to demonstrate that being infected with a gut
parasite reduces the likelihood of developing asthma. The research, led by British
researcher Professor John Britton, of the University of Nottingham, along with Dr Gail
Davey and colleagues at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia, will study over 1,000 children
born in urban and rural areas of Butajira in southern Ethiopia to see whether infection of
the gut with either hook worms or other gut parasites protects against developing asthma
later in life.

Scientists find the cellular on and
off switch for allergies and asthma

If you're one of the millions who dread the spring allergy season, things are looking up.
A research study appearing in the May 2009 issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology
(http://www.jleukbio.org) shows how a team of American scientists have identified a
previously unknown cellular switch that turns allergies and asthma both on and off.
Equally important, this study also suggests that at least for some people with asthma and
allergies, their problems might be caused by genes that prevent this switch from working
properly. Taken together, this information is an important first step toward new
medications that address the root causes of allergies, asthma and other similar diseases.
"This study uncovers some of the basic mechanisms that control whether or not people
have asthma and allergies and the severity of the symptoms," said John Ryan, Ph.D.,
Professor of Biology at Virginia Commonwealth University, and a senior scientist involved
in the research. "This understanding opens new avenues for treating these and other
related diseases." Ryan and colleagues made this discovery in mouse experiments that
examined cells from bone marrow and umbilical cord blood that ultimately help create a
type of immune cell (mast cells). Too many mast cells lead to an over-aggressive immune
response, which causes allergies and asthma. The scientists found that when chemicals
(cytokines IL-4 and IL-10) used to initiate an immune response (the "on switch")
are added to developing mast cells, the developing cells die. Because bone marrow makes
both mast cells and these cytokines, the researchers conclude that just as the cytokines
serve as the "on switch" for the immune system, bone marrow cells also use them
as the "off switch" to stop mast cells from getting out of hand. Further
supporting their discovery was the finding that strains of mice prone to allergies and
asthma had genes which affected the production of this chemical "off switch" in
their bone marrow. "The immune system has an incredible capacity for balance and
counterbalance to maintain optimal and properly tuned immune responses," said John
Wherry, Ph.D., Deputy Editor of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology, "The studies by
Ryan and colleagues are an excellent example of this inherent self-regulation of the
immune system and how an imbalance in mast cell regulation could contribute to allergy and
disease."

Folic acid, or vitamin B9, essential for red blood cell health and long known to reduce
the risk of spinal birth defects, may also suppress allergic reactions and lessen the
severity of allergy and asthma symptoms, according to new research from the Johns Hopkins
Children's Center. In what is believed to be the first study in humans examining the link
between blood levels of folate  the naturally occurring form of folic acid 
and allergies, the Hopkins scientists say results add to mounting evidence that folate can
help regulate inflammation. Recent studies, including research from Hopkins, have found a
link between folate levels and inflammation-mediated diseases, including heart disease. A
report on the Hopkins Children's findings appears online ahead of print in the Journal of
Allergy & Clinical Immunology. Cautioning that it's far too soon to recommend folic
acid supplements to prevent or treat people with asthma and allergies, the researchers
emphasize that more research needs to be done to confirm their results, and to establish
safe doses and risks. Reviewing the medical records of more than 8,000 people ages 2 to 85
the investigators tracked the effect of folate levels on respiratory and allergic symptoms
and on levels of IgE antibodies, immune system markers that rise in response to an
allergen. People with higher blood levels of folate had fewer IgE antibodies, fewer
reported allergies, less wheezing and lower likelihood of asthma, researchers report.
"Our findings are a clear indication that folic acid may indeed help regulate immune
response to allergens, and may reduce allergy and asthma symptoms," says lead
investigator Elizabeth Matsui, M.D. M.H.S., pediatric allergist at Hopkins Children's.
"But we still need to figure out the exact mechanism behind it, and to do so we need
studies that follow people receiving treatment with folic acid, before we even consider
supplementation with folic acid to treat or prevent allergies and asthma."

Conventional wisdom has been that respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)  a common virus
that causes infection in the lungs  comes and goes in children without any long
lasting impact. A study conducted in mice by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers,
however, suggests that RSV may hide in the lungs even after other symptoms abate,
ultimately resurfacing to cause recurrent wheezing and chronic airway disease. This
research suggests that theres a potential new mechanism for asthma related to viral
infections in children that could be associated with RSV, said Dr. Asuncion Mejias,
assistant professor of pediatrics at UT Southwestern and senior author of a study
available online and in the Nov. 15 issue of the Journal of Infectious Diseases.
These findings could aid in the development of preventive and therapeutic
interventions for children with recurrent wheezing due to a virus such as RSV.

GA≤LEN first campaign alerts
healthcare professionals and patients of the importance of the link between rhinitis and
asthma

The majority of asthma patients have rhinitis, and patients with rhinitis have a much
higher prevalence of asthma than those who do not have rhinitis. Rhinitis is a risk factor
for asthma. Improvement of allergic rhinitis symptoms can be associated with improvement
of asthma symptoms. The prevalence of allergic rhinitis is increasing to up to 20% in
school children and 30% in teenagers. It is important to adequately diagnose and treat
allergic rhinitis as this can considerably improve patients quality of life and
decrease the risk of asthma developing / asthma exacerbations.

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have found that more than 50 percent of
the current asthma cases in the country can be attributed to allergies, with approximately
30 percent of those cases attributed to cat allergy.

According to a new study, the frequency of regulatory T-cells (Treg) correlates to the
severity of inflammation in allergic asthma, suggesting that Treg may play an important
role in asthma pathogenesis. A study in Respirology, published by Wiley-Blackwell, used
mouse models and peripheral blood mononuclear cells from subjects with allergic asthma to
assess the association of the Treg cells with asthma phenotypes. Researchers found that
the frequency of Treg cells in the peripheral blood of allergic asthmatics were lower when
compared to healthy subjects. Lung Treg were also found to be associated with the severity
of eosinophillic airway inflammation in the mice. "The correlation of Treg with
asthma pathogenesis indicates that it is important to evaluate Tregs in allergic asthmatic
patients - especially in relation to clinical severity and the degree of airway
inflammation", said author Professor Hiromasa Inoue from the Research Institute for
Diseases of the Chest, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kyushu University.

Exposure to smoke can worsen your child's asthma and should be eliminated to help
effectively manage symptoms, said a pediatric pulmonologist at Baylor College of Medicine.
"Sometimes treating a child's asthma means treating the parent's tobacco
addiction," said Dr. Harold Farber, associate professor of pediatrics - pulmonary at
BCM and associate medical director of the Texas Children's Health Plan at Texas Children's
Hospital."Cigarette smoke  in first-, second- and third-hand forms  poses
a serious threat to your child's asthma. It's the first thing we look at when starting a
management program for controlling asthma." When children with asthma are exposed to
smoke, medications don't work as well and flare-ups or attacks can be more severe, Farber
said. "The most important thing that a parent who smokes can do for their child with
asthma is to get treatment for their own tobacco addiction," he said.

When it comes to feeding babies, the old adage "breast is best" certainly holds
true, with breastfed babies having less diarrhea and fewer ear infections and incidents of
wheezing in early life. However, the positive effects of infant feeding on lung function
may not hold true for children of asthmatic mothers.

Here's another reason to eat your broccoli: UCLA researchers report that a naturally
occurring compound found in broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables may help protect
against respiratory inflammation that causes conditions like asthma, allergic rhinitis and
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Published in the March edition of the journal
Clinical Immunology, the research shows that sulforaphane, a chemical in broccoli,
triggers an increase of antioxidant enzymes in the human airway that offers protection
against the onslaught of free radicals that we breathe in every day in polluted air,
pollen, diesel exhaust and tobacco smoke. A supercharged form of oxygen, free radicals can
cause oxidative tissue damage, which leads to inflammation and respiratory conditions like
asthma. "This is one of the first studies showing that broccoli sprouts  a
readily available food source  offered potent biologic effects in stimulating an
antioxidant response in humans," said Dr. Marc Riedl, the study's principal
investigator and an assistant professor of clinical immunology and allergy at the David
Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "We found a two- to three-fold increase in
antioxidant enzymes in the nasal airway cells of study participants who had eaten a
preparation of broccoli sprouts," Riedl said. "This strategy may offer
protection against inflammatory processes and could lead to potential treatments for a
variety of respiratory conditions."

Young people with asthma are about twice as likely to suffer from depressive and anxiety
disorders than are children without asthma, according to a study by a research team in
Seattle. Previous research had suggested a possible link in young people between asthma
and some mental health problems, but this study is the first showing such a strong
connection

Blocking effects of viral
infections may prevent asthma in young children

Babies who get severe respiratory viral infections are much more likely to suffer from
asthma as they get older. Now researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in
St. Louis have pinpointed a key step in the development of asthma in mice after a severe
respiratory infection. They suggest that medications designed to interfere with this
mechanism could potentially prevent many cases of childhood asthma.

Immune cells known as eosinophils have a central role in causing asthma. Now, a team of
researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, has developed approaches to
noninvasively visualize in real-time eosinophil responses in the lungs and airways of mice
with a disease that mimics asthma (experimental allergic airway inflammation); they hope
that these approaches might be developed to help assess the efficacy of treatments (both
old and new) for the disease. The team, led by Mikael Pittet and Ralph Weissleder,
visualized eosinophils at single-cell resolution using various noninvasive real-time
molecular imaging technologies (specifically, near-infrared fluorescence fiber optic
bronchoscopy, intravital microscopy, and fluorescence-mediated tomography) following
injection of an optical sensor that targets proteins produced by eosinophils known as
MMPs. Using a combination of the sensitive optical sensor and fluorescence-mediated
tomography, it was observed that dexamethasone (a drug used to treat severe asthma)
decreased the number of eosinophils in the lungs of mice with allergic airway
inflammation. As some of the imaging techniques have the potential to be developed for the
clinic, the authors suggest that in combination with an appropriate optical sensor they
might improve our ability to diagnose asthma and assess treatment efficacy.

Antibodies to cockroach and mouse
proteins associated with asthma and allergies risk

A study released by researchers at the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health
(CCCEH) at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health shows that developing
antibodies to cockroach and mouse proteins is associated with a greater risk for wheeze,
hay fever, and eczema in preschool urban children as young as three years of age. The
study, published in the November 2008 issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical
Immunology, is the first to focus on the links between antibody responses to cockroach and
mouse proteins and respiratory and allergic symptoms in such a young age group.
"These findings increase our understanding of the relationship between immune
responses to indoor allergens and the development of asthma and allergies in very young
children," said lead author of the study, Kathleen Donohue, MD, fellow in Allergy and
Immunology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. The study found
evidence that the likelihood of developing wheeze, hay fever, and eczema in preschool
urban children was significantly increased among the children who were exposed to
antibodies of both cockroach and mouse allergens. This study is part of a broader
multi-year research project launched in 1998 by CCCEH that examines the health effects of
exposure of pregnant women and babies to indoor and outdoor air pollutants, pesticides,
and allergens. The Center's prior research findings have shown that exposure to multiple
environmental pollutants is associated with an increase in risk for asthma symptoms among
children. These latest findings contribute to a further understanding of how the
environment impacts child health.

astma
Possible link between baby swimming and breathing problems in children

Children with mothers who have allergies or asthma have an increased risk of wheezing in
the chest if they take part in baby swimming before 6 months of age. This is shown in a
new study using data from the Norwegian Mother and Child Study (MoBa) at the Norwegian
Institute of Public Health (NIPH). The results come from a study of 30 000 participants
from MoBa. Approximately 25 percent of these children took part in baby swimming from 0-6
months of age.

astma
Link between paracetamol use and asthma in European adults confirmed in GA≤LEN study

Adults who take paracetamol weekly were nearly three times more likely to have asthma than
those taking paracetamol less often, according to a study organised by GA≤LEN, the Global
Allergy and Asthma European Network. Use of other painkillers was not significantly
related to asthma. In the GA≤LEN-SARI study, published in the European Respiratory
Journal, researchers across Europe compared the frequency of analgesic use in over 500
adults with asthma and over 500 controls. Their results, to be presented at the next
Annual Congress of the European Respiratory Society (ERS) in Berlin (October 4-8, 2008)
suggest that the risk of asthma symptoms is increased by frequent paracetamol use. This
may be the consequence of the action of paracetamol that reduces levels of
glutathione in the lungs, an antioxidant substance needed to defend the
airways against damage from air pollution and tobacco smoke. Dr Seif Shaheen from Imperial
College London, one of the authors of the study, says Epidemiological evidence is
growing that shows a link between paracetamol and asthma. Since 2000, several publications
have reported this association for instance in the UK and the USA. We have also shown that
asthma prevalence is higher in children and adults in countries with higher paracetamol
sales. Considering asthma is a common disease and paracetamol use is frequent,
it is now important to find out whether this association is really a causal one. A
clinical trial may be the only way to answer this question conclusively.The Selenium
and Asthma Research Integration (SARI) project was initially set out across 15 GA≤LEN
centres to integrate research efforts and build capacity of the GA≤LEN network for future
large epidemiological studies. The network is also developing a clinical trial network
specialised in allergy and asthma, which in the long run could help scientists to further
investigate the link between paracetamol and asthma.

A pregnant mouse's diet can induce epigenetic changes that increase the risk her offspring
will develop allergic asthma, according to researchers at National Jewish Health and Duke
University Medical Center. Pregnant mice that consumed diets high in supplements
containing methyl-donors, such as folic acid, had offspring with more severe allergic
airway disease than offspring from mice that consumed diets low in methyl-containing
foods. The results of the study are being published Sept. 18, 2008, in the online version
of the Journal of Clinical Investigation and will appear in the October print issue.
"Our findings suggest that a mother's diet that alters DNA methylation can affect the
development of the fetus's immune system, predisposing it to allergic airway
disease," said David Schwartz, MD, senior author on the paper and Professor of
Medicine at National Jewish Health. "It also suggests the dramatic increase in asthma
during the past two decades may be related in part to recent changes in dietary
supplementation among women of childbearing age." The prevalence of asthma has nearly
doubled in the past 25 years. Asthma currently affects about 11 percent of the US
population and accounts for $9.4 billion in direct healthcare costs. Although both genes
and environment are believed to play a role in the development of asthma, scientists have
been unable to definitively identify specific causes of the disease or explain the rise in
prevalence. Epigenetics is the study of gene regulation. Environmental exposures can lead
to modification of methyl groups (CH3) binding to certain DNA molecules, which can result
in modified expression of specific genes. A variety of environmental factors, including
diet, tobacco smoke, and medications, can modify methyl groups binding to DNA,
particularly during periods of vulnerability. Although no changes occur in the genetic
code, epigenetic effects can be passed to offspring. Emerging research has indicated that
epigenetic mechanisms can affect the development of the immune system, skewing it either
toward or away from a predisposition to allergies.

Giving children a diet rich in fish and "fruity vegetables" can reduce asthma
and allergies, according to a seven-year study of 460 Spanish children, published in the
September issue of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology.

Warnings about adverse effects of chlorinated swimming pools, particularly where they
affect children's airways, are becoming increasingly prominent in the scientific
literature. The harmful impact of air breathed in close to the chlorinated water could
even be one cause of the upsurge in child asthma recorded in the industrialised countries.

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have found that more than 50
percent of the current asthma cases in the country can be attributed to allergies, with
approximately 30 percent of those cases attributed to cat allergy. "It has long been
debated whether people who develop asthma have a genetic propensity to develop allergies,
or atopy," said Darryl C. Zeldin, M.D., a senior investigator at the National
Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). "This new research shows that
56.3 percent of asthma cases are attributed to atopy." Atopy is a condition that
results from gene-environment interactions and can be measured by a positive skin test to
allergens (or allergy causing substances in the environment).

Researchers from Sweden and France have deciphered the crystal structure of a human
membrane protein which has a major influence on the development of asthma. They used the
ESRF macromolecular crystallography experimental stations (beamlines) to determine the
structure of this pharmaceutically important protein, only the third human membrane
protein to be solved. The scientists now believe that their work will enable the
development of new and better therapeutic drugs targeting inflammation of the respiratory
tract.

There are no clear benefits to using long-acting beta2-agonists for treatment of asthma in
children, a new study concludes. In an overview of recent Cochrane reviews, Child Health
Field researchers report that there is currently insufficient evidence to suggest the
drugs, which are recommended to relieve the symptoms of asthma, offer any additional
benefit to conventional preventative medications.

A Kansas State University study that found that healthy children with higher levels of
body fat and lower levels of physical activity had greater amounts of airway narrowing
after exercise. These findings may point to the increase over the past several decades in
asthma prevalence as well as obesity prevalence, the researcher said.

Mayo Clinic research shows adults with asthma are at increased risk of serious
pneumococcal disease caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, the most common bacteria causing
middle ear infections and community acquired pneumonia. It also causes blood stream
infections and brain infections. According to the Centers for Disease Control,
pneumococcal infection is one of the leading causes of death from a vaccine-preventable
disease. The researchers recommend including asthma as an indication for pneumococcal
vaccination in adults. The results of the study were recently published in the October
edition of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. "We found that adults with
invasive pneumococcal disease, a serious, potentially fatal disease, are seven times more
likely to be asthmatics. Our study also showed that 17 percent of the burden of invasive
pneumococcal disease can be attributable to asthma at a population level. This is quite a
significant impact on the burden of invasive pneumococcal disease," says Young Juhn,
M.D., a pediatric and adolescent medicine physician-scientist at Mayo Clinic and lead
author of the study. "Invasive pneumococcal disease is a vaccine-preventable disease.
The implication is that we have the ability to significantly reduce instances of this
potentially fatal disease by expanding the indication for the pneumococcal vaccine to
include adults with asthma."

WHEN those fireworks light up the sky on New Years Eve, be careful not to breathe in
too much smoke. A study of the fallout from a New Year display in Austria shows for the
first time that the fireworks can aggravate respiratory conditions like asthma because
they shoot out harmful aerosols. Georg Steinhauser and his colleagues at Vienna University
of Technology analysed fallen snow before and after a display in the village of Saalbach.
Fireworks often contain metal salts to give them colour, such as barium for green flashes
and strontium for red. The researchers wanted to find out whether any traces remained,
clinging to snowflakes. If they did, it would mean the particles were present in the smoke
from the fireworks and could be breathed in by spectators. We found huge amounts of
barium in the snow, says Steinhauser (Atmospheric Environment, DOI:
10.1016/j.atmosenv.2008.08.023). Concentrations were typically 500 times higher than in
snow samples taken from the same sites before the display. Barium poisoning is known to
constrict the airways, so inhaling it could aggravate asthma symptoms, says Steinhauser.

Exhaust fumes heighten the risk of asthma in children who are already genetically
susceptible to respiratory disease, indicates research published ahead of print in the
journal Thorax. Variations in the genes that control enzymes responsible for clearing
harmful chemicals breathed into the body have been linked to the development of asthma and
other respiratory diseases.

Usually harmless external stimuli like animal hair, pollen and house dust cause a
life-endangering narrowing of the bronchi in asthma patients. An international team of
scientists headed by researchers from the Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich, and
Oxford University, UK, have now been able to identify a gene that clearly increases the
risk for asthma in childhood.

Australian scientists say they have discovered a link between childhood eczema and the
onset of asthma in adults.A study has found those who had childhood eczema were twice as
likely to develop asthma.

Aggressive treatment of childhood
eczema could help prevent asthma, says new study

More aggressive treatment of childhood eczema may be an important step in preventing
asthma, says a new Australian study. The study, published online in the Journal of Allergy
and Clinical Immunology, calls for trials of aggressive therapies against childhood eczema
in attempt to reduce the incidence of asthma in later life. The study, conducted by the
University of Melbourne, Monash University and Menzies Research Institute in Tasmania, has
followed more than 8500 people who are part of the Tasmanian Longitudinal Health Study
from the ages of seven to 44. Lead author John Burgess, from the University of
Melbournes Melbourne School of Population Health, says the study is the first to
demonstrate an association between childhood eczema and asthma into middle age.

According to EU funded researchers,
taking fish oil supplements in late pregnancy might reduce the risk of children developing
asthma

In the context of European research on early nutritional programming, a team of
researchers has traced the children born from mothers who had taken part in a trial.
According to their work, the risk of developing asthma was reduced by 63% in those whose
mothers had been given fish oil supplements during the last trimester of their pregnancy.
This study is part of the EU funded EARNEST project with scientists from 38 institutions
in 16 European countries. It is published today in the American Journal of Clinical
Nutrition.

Consumption of nut products during
pregnancy linked to increased asthma in children

Expectant mothers who eat nuts or nut products like peanut butter daily during pregnancy
increase their children's risk of developing asthma by more than 50 percent over women who
rarely or never consume nut products during pregnancy, according to new research from the
Netherlands.

A long-time microbial inhabitant of the human stomach may protect children from developing
asthma, according to a new study among more than 7,000 subjects led by NYU Langone Medical
Center researchers. Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium that has co-existed with humans for
at least 50,000 years, may lead to peptic ulcers and stomach cancer. Yet, kids between the
ages of 3 and 13 are nearly 59 percent less likely to have asthma if they carry the bug,
the researchers report.

More than 6 million kids in this country have asthma -- or do they? New research shows
many children are being misdiagnosed. Instead of asthma, they may actually have Vocal
Chord Dysfunction, a much less serious condition that doesn't require medication. A simple
test can show doctors and parents the difference between asthma and VCD.

The results confirmed the effect of the grass pollen tablets: hay fever symptoms were up
24% less pronounced in the group taking the active substance than in the placebo group.
Accordingly, the group needed 34% less medication. Asthma symptoms decreased by up to 64%.
The immunological blood tests confirmed the effect of the tablet. In general, the grass
pollen tablets were well tolerated, apart from frequent itchiness in the mouth as a
temporary side effect. "Just as with adults, this immunotherapy with the tablet being
placed under the tongue is also very promising in children", concludes Prof. Bufe.
Further studies will be necessary to see whether there are any long-term improvements in
the allergy. "For a long time now, standard hay fever treatment has consisted of
desensitization/immunotherapy with the allergens being injected under the skin. If it
transpires that the grass tablets have a similarly effective long-term impact, in future
it will be possible to replace the injection therapy with sublingual treatment, and now
also in children."

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center appear to have solved at least a piece of a
puzzle that has mystified physicians for years: why so many patients with asthma also
suffer from GERD, or gastroesophageal reflux disease. Clinicians first noted a
relationship between the two diseases in the mid-1970s. Since then, studies have shown
that anywhere from 50 to 90 percent of patients with asthma experience some aspect of
GERD. But can GERD cause asthma, or, is it the other way around? Perhaps there is some
shared mechanism at the root of both disorders causing them to arise together. Physicians
could make a case for each scenario, but until now, the exact nature of the relationship
was not clear.

Go watch most any team in the world practice and I guarantee you that somewhere on deck
youll see the telltale sign of swimmers with breathing issues. The telltale sign is,
naturally, the inhaler sitting on deck amongst pull buoys, paddles, fins, and mesh bags.

Diesel exhaust fumes on polluted streets have a measurable effect on people with asthma,
according to the first study looking at exhausts and asthma in a real-life setting,
published on Dec. 6 in the New England Journal of Medicine. The new study looked at the
effects on 60 people with mild and moderate asthma of walking along the western end of
busy Oxford Street in London, where only diesel-powered taxis and buses are permitted.

A multi-center research project to investigate severe asthma has found a key physiological
difference between severe and non-severe forms of the disease, a finding that could help
explain why those with severe asthma do not respond well to treatment. The study from the
Severe Asthma Research Program has found that those with severe asthma are much more
likely to show signs of "air trapping" in the lungs, a condition that prevents a
full exhalation.

Lungs' Mast Cells Could Provide New
Treatment Target for Asthma, Other Respiratory Disease

An enzyme released by mast cells in the lungs appears to play a key role in the tightening
of airways that is a hallmark of asthma  pointing to a potential new target for
treatment against the illness. Reporting in the online edition of Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences, a team at Weill Cornell Medical College explains that during
an immune response, mast cells release the enzyme  called renin  which in turn
produces angiotensin, a potent constrictor of the smooth muscle that lines airways. Mast
cells are normally present in small numbers in all organs, and are best known for their
role in allergy, shock, wound healing and defense against pathogens.

Craniosacral Fascial Therapy reduces and potentially eliminates asthma symptoms," Dr.
Gillespie said. "The outcome for asthmatic children who no longer need to live with
the effects of this at times life-threatening disease inspires me.

A new portable system is trying to predict asthma attacks by sampling the air and
identifying likely triggers. The 1-lb. device, designed by a team at Georgia Tech, takes
samples every two minutes, looking at recorded air temperature and humidity, and testing
the samples for particulates, volatile organic compounds and gases like ozone.

New knowledge points to the fact that a genetically induced lack of filaggrin, a key
protein of the skin barrier, plays a decisive role in the origin of allergies. In a large
study on more than 3000 school-children scientists of the Helmholtz Zentrum MŁnchen and
the Technische Universitšt MŁnchen found that about 8% of the German population carry
variations of the filaggrin gene, which raise the risk to develop atopic dermatitis more
than threefold. In addition, these genetic variations predispose to hay fever and asthma
in those with atopic dermatitis. Allergic diseases have increased considerably in the past
decades in most industrial countries. A combination of genetic and environmentally related
factors is said to be the cause. In recent years, several genes were examined for a role
in allergic diseases, and one of them actually turned out to be a key player. This gene
encodes filaggrin, an essential protein in the horny layer of the skin. If this protein is
reduced or lacking due to a genetic defect, the natural cornification is impeded and the
natural barrier function of the skin is limited.

Ambient Ozone Concentrations Cause
Increased Hospitalizations for Asthma in Children

Asthma is the most important chronic disease of childhood. The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency has concluded that children with asthma continue to be susceptible to
ozone-associated adverse effects on their disease. Our data indicate that at current
levels of O3 experienced in Southern California, O3 contributes to an increased risk of
hospitalization for children with asthma.

Study Reveals Use of Cleaning
Products During Pregnancy Increases Risk of Asthma in Young Children

Women who use a lot of household cleaning products when they are pregnant, or shortly
after giving birth, are increasing their childs risk of developing asthma.
Thats according to the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents of Children (ALSPAC, also
known as Children of the Nineties), that recruited over 13,000 children from before birth
and has followed them to post 16.

Activating a protein found on some immune cells seems to halt the cells' typical job of
spewing out substances that launch allergic reactions, a study by Johns Hopkins
researchers suggests. The findings could eventually lead to new treatments for allergic
reactions ranging from annoying bouts of hay fever to deadly asthma attacks.

Tufts researchers and colleagues report that place of birth plays a role in the occurrence
of asthma in a United States black population. The researchers found that within one
inner-city population, blacks born in the United States were more likely to have asthma
than blacks who were born outside of the United States. "Within Asian and Hispanic
populations, there is research that indicates that asthma varies between those who are
born in the U.S. and those who are foreign-born. There is currently no research that we
found that describes asthma prevalence among black/African-American subpopulations in the
U.S.," says first author Doug Brugge, PhD, associate professor in the Department of
Public Health and Family Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. In
partnership with Tufts University School of Medicine, the Boston Urban Asthma Coalition
(BUAC) implemented the project in Dorchester in response to parents who wanted to
determine how asthma affects their community. Adults 18 years and older were recruited
from various locations in Dorchester to participate in the oral survey. If the recruited
adults had children, they answered asthma-related questions about their children. Parent
leaders from BUAC and students from Harvard Medical School conducted the survey, which
included questions from asthma screening questionnaires used and validated by other
organizations and research studies. Questions included place of birth as well as questions
related to occurrence of asthma symptoms (e.g., chest tightness, wheezing, family history
of asthma, allergies, etc.) and environmental factors that would lead to asthma (e.g.,
maternal smoking during pregnancy, mold growth in the home, vehicle traffic near home,
etc.)

The need for an urgent change in asthma management is advocated this week by a group of
respiratory specialists, patient representatives, GPs and paediatricians from across
Europe and North America. Writing in the December issue of the European Respiratory
Journal (ERJ), the group, which includes Professor Stephen Holgate, Medical Research
Council Professor of Immunopharmacology at the University of Southampton, identifies
deficiencies in a range of areas in relation to asthma, including: diagnosis, recognition
of the disease nature, asthma control, set-up of clinical trials, treatment of asthmatic
children, asthma research and environmental conditions. The group also calls for a
concerted effort from policymakers, regulators, health professionals, industry and
patients, to remedy the significant disparities in asthma management practices between and
within European countries, to ensure better outcomes for European asthma patients. The
prevalence of asthma has increased dramatically over the last 20 years and around 180,000
deaths annually are attributable to asthma worldwide. It is particularly common in
industrialized countries. The article in the ERJ highlights the Finnish Asthma Programme
as a best-practice example of asthma management. The authors say the programme
demonstrates that early diagnosis, personalised treatment and guided self-management,
combined with patient education and reductions in tobacco smoking and exposure to
environmental risk factors, can improve patients' asthma whilst reducing overall costs.

Study strengthens link between
tobacco smoke and behavioral problems in boys with asthma

Boys with asthma who are exposed to environmental tobacco smoke have higher degrees of
hyperactivity, aggression, depression and other behavioral problems, according to
researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. In a study posted online
ahead of print by the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, the researchers
said behavioral problems increase along with higher exposure levels, but they added even
low levels of tobacco smoke may be detrimental to behavior.

A history of ear infections during childhood appears to raise the risk of asthma later in
life. According to recent research, the rate of ear infections has increased significantly
over the years, paralleling the rise in asthma rates, BBC reported.

Secondhand exposure to cigarette smoke is an asthma trigger in children and a new study
shows that smoking by the primary caregiver and daycare provider are important sources of
smoke exposure in children with asthma.